Lipstick

Circa 4000 B.C.: The first recorded use of cosmetics is in ancient Egypt, where women used red ochre mixed with fat to paint their lips.

1000 B.C.: Greek women paint their lips with a mix of ochre and red iron.

100 AD: In Rome, Platus writes, "A woman without paint is like food without salt."

1200s: Wealthy European women wear pink lipstick as a sign of wealth.

1770: The British Parliament passes a law condemning lipstick, stating that "women found guilty of seducing men into matrimony by a cosmetic means could be tried for witchcraft."

1900s: During the Victorian period, women who wear lipstick and other makeup are shunned by society. Men are allowed to divorce wives who paint their lips.

1915: The United States is the first to manufacture commercial lipstick.

1910s: American women in the suffragette movement fight for their right to wear lipstick and take charge of their appearance. They wear red lipstick as a symbol of their independence from men.

1920s: Twist-up lipstick is invented and it becomes fashionable to apply lipstick in public.

1930s: Lipstick sales soar despite the Depression.

1940s: During WWII, women on the home front wear lipstick as a sign of patriotism.

1949: Hazel Bishop creates the first long-lasting lipstick.

1952: Writer Paul Gallico writes an article lamenting the fact that "the billions and trillions of kisses that never happened because of that confounded red paste that women have been taught to smear upon their lips."

1957: Gala releases the "Lipline," a combination lipstick/lip pencil. Around the same time, Gala introduces unusual colors like silver and green.

1959: Connie Francis releases a song, "Lipstick on Your Collar," about a girl who finds another woman's lipstick on her boyfriend's collar.

1961: Pale lipstick comes into vogue. Women blend their own lipstick at home.

1960s: A weapon called the "Lipstick Pistol" is employed by Soviet spies during the Cold War. It is a 4.5mm single shot weapon disguised as a tube of lipstick.

1970s: Women throw out their lipstick along with their bras in an effort to defy traditional beauty standards.

1996: Shisedo Cosmetics, Tokyo, conducts a survey in which 87% of American women admitted to having left traces of lipstick in unwanted places.